STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The red foxes, between two and three weeks old, were recently discovered wandering and vulnerable in the West Yellowstone area of Montana, their mother found dead in a trap.

Their future, however is more secure: They have been adopted by the Staten Island Zoo, where they are currently on display in its nursery.

They arrived earlier this month and join an adult red fox already in residence at the West Brighton zoo.

The young foxes, called "kits," have been named Montana, after the state in which they were born, and Helena, after the its capital. They typically reach their full adult size in about a year.

So far, the animals appear to be "active, inquisitive and frisky ... and puppylike," a zoo staffer shared with us.

Red foxes are social animals, but the species has long been hunted as a pest, and for its fur. In the wild, they eat small mammals such as mice, squirrels, woodchucks and rabbits, as well as ground-nesting birds and their eggs.